1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transaction system using an automatic teller machine (ATM) and more particularly to the automatic transaction system to transmit money between a recipient and a payer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A money transmission process using a conventional ATM is described below by referring to FIG. 5. Conventionally, a recipient has an account at one financial institution. A payer performs, by using the conventional ATM, a money transmission process either to transfer a deposit in himself/herself account or to transfer a cash into the account of the recipient (hereinafter, such money transmission process is called a xe2x80x9cmoney transferxe2x80x9d).
The recipient checks to see, by using an ATM, whether money is added to his/her account by the money transfer as described above. The recipient, when money is added to his/her account, receives cash by a money drawing process.
However, in such the conventional money transmission process, each of the payer and the recipient has to visit a financial institution in order to perform a money transmission process or in order to check whether or not money has been added in his/her account, as a result, causing the money transmission process to be complicated.
Moreover, the conventional automatic transaction system presents a problem in that, unless a recipient has his/her own account in an financial institution, it is impossible for a payer to perform a money transfer.
In view of the above, the object of the present invention is to provide an automatic transaction system, which is capable of making easy a money transmission process between a payer and a recipient, and of making the recipient get cash if the recipient has no account.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic transaction system including:
an automatic teller machine (ATM) to be used by a recipient to have a payer transmit an amount of money to be transferred from an account of the payer;
a terminal to be used by the payer for money transmission;
a connecting device to connect the ATM to the terminal; and
wherein the ATM is provided with a storing section to store designation information to designate oneself, an obtaining section to obtain designation information to designate the terminal and recognition information to recognize the recipient, and a communicating unit and wherein the connecting device has a destination designating section to designate the ATM and the terminal, based on the designation information and identification information, and to establish connection so as to receive each piece of information, and wherein the terminal is provided with a recognizing unit to have, when the recognition information is received, a recipient recognized based on the recognition information, an inputting section to have the payer input account information including an amount of money, and a communicating unit to transmit the account information to the connecting device to further transfer the account information to the ATM.
As described above, the automatic transaction system of the present invention, includes the automatic teller machine (ATM) to be used by a recipient and a terminal is used by a payer. The connecting device, based on designating information and identifying information, identifies the ATM and terminal for connection. The terminal receives recognition information and has a payer recognize a recipient and has an account information including transmitting amount of money be input and then transmits the information to the ATM through the connecting device. When the account information of a payer is transmitted to the ATM, if a recipient has no account, the ATM, based on account information of the payer, performs a process of drawing cash corresponding to the transmitting amount of money for the recipient. Therefore, even if a recipient has no account, the recipient can receive cash from an account of a payer by using the ATM. Moreover, if a recipient has an account, the ATM does not perform a money drawing process but performs, based on account information of a payer, a process of adding money corresponding to a transmitting amount to an account of the recipient and has the recipient confirm the addition of money.
Thus, money transmission between a payer and a recipient can be achieved not by payer""s use of the ATM but by payer""s use of a terminal and only by recipient""s use of the ATM. In such case, the recipient can either receive cash if no account or confirm whether the money was deposited into own account. As a result, it is possible to simplify each transaction process for transmitting money.
As the terminal, a portable cellular phone or a personal computer can be used. Therefore, even if a payer lives at a remote site, money transmission is made possible.
As the recognition information, a PIN can be used. In this case, the obtaining section serves as an inputting section to input both designating information and PIN to a recipient""s device and the recognizing unit serves as a display section to display the PIN. By this PIN, an authorized recipient can be recognized.
Moreover, as recognition information, voice data can be used. In this case, the obtaining section is made up of an inputting device to input designating information to a device of the recipient and a voice obtaining section to obtain voice data based on a voice of the recipient. The recognizing unit is a voice reproducing section to reproduce a voice of a recipient based on received voice data. This enables an authorized recipient to be recognized only by a voice without a need of memorizing a PIN.
Furthermore, as recognition information, image data can be used. In this case, the obtaining section is made up of an inputting section to have a recipient input designating information and an image obtaining section to obtain image data indicating an image of the recipient and a display section to reproduce an image of the recipient, based on received image data, serves as a recognizing unit. This enables a payer to recognize a recipient by an image and to perform an exact transmission of money.
Also, in the automatic transaction system, the ATM more may be provided with a payment processing section for paying cash to said recipient based on said account information output from said connecting device; and the terminal may be Personal Digital (Data) Assistants (PDA) with a function capable of connecting to network.